Rossette Dawson, 38, is the owner of a Lollicup franchise in Escondido, which opened in June. There are about 80 Lollicup franchises nationwide, which serve more than 100 flavors of smoothies, slushies and milk teas, as well as gourmet coffee and espresso drinks.

Lollicups feature boba – sweet, chewy balls about a quarter-inch in diameter that sink to the bottom of a drink. They are derived from the starch of the cassava root, Dawson said.

Lollicup was founded in Taiwan and gained popularity around Los Angeles in the early 1990s. The Escondido Lollicup, which has six part-time employees, is at 119 E. Grand Ave. The shop has live music every Friday and features works of local artists and craftsmen. For information, call (760) 466-2184 or go to www.Lollicup.com. What does the drink look like?

Well, actually, it's all different kinds. The boba is an optional thing. You can add it to your drink or you don't have to. We have over 100 flavors and then you add the boba to the drink. It is also called bubble tea or tapioca balls or pearls.

Is this the third Lollicup franchise in San Diego County?

Yes, we're actually the first one in North County. The others are in Chula Vista and in National City.

How many hours a week do you work?

Gosh, I would say 24/7. Even Sunday I do inventory, so I consider that work, and late at night I worry about my overhead costs. So I don't know, I would say about 80 hours, I think. I guess that's with all business owners, especially the newbies like me.

Actually what keeps me up at night is the price of milk. That keeps going up, and that really is impacting us because when we started you could get two gallons of milk for $5.30. Now, it's close to $7. That's just a lot. And obviously it affects the ice cream, the whipping cream, the half-and-half. If the price keeps going up we might have to invade Wisconsin or something.

Do you know why milk prices are going up?

I was reading about it (recently) and they said because of the push on ethanol a lot of farmers are setting aside their corn to the ethanol producers and it's less for the dairy industry, and that means they can raise their price. So I think that's what they're doing.

Where do you see this business in a year?

In a year I'm hoping to have more regulars and also just become a household name here. I guess I took a gamble opening up here, especially in Escondido, because usually the demographics of a boba shop are the Asian community. But I thought of Escondido because of all their galleries and they're open to new things.

Who are your customers?

We have all kinds of people. I'm surprised. ... Usually I know when somebody comes in, I say, “Oh he's a boba drinker.” The surprises, I get a kick out of it because they try the boba and they love it.